BIOVIA SOLUTIONS BLOG

TRENDS IN SCIENCE

Operational Excellence in Times of Rapid Change in the Life Sciences

The following is a guest post by Alan S. Louie, Ph.D., Research Director at IDC Health Insights.

Companies in the life sciences are well along the path to industry transformation in the shadow of blockbuster patent expirations. Changes in the industry have been unusually dramatic and swift, resulting in core paradigm shifts in both strategies and processes. A key mindset change that has swept the industry has been the recognition that the life science industry is not significantly different from other industries, enabling leading innovators to adapt cross-industry best practices in an accelerated fashion in pursuit of both strategic advantage and operational excellence. IDC’s new infographics and white paper discuss how systematically improving data access and utilization, optimizing collaboration across the enterprise, and standardizing data and processes across the scientific product lifecycle can help companies operationalize excellence within their organizations while integrating continuing innovation into their strategies and processes.

As we all know, the life science industry is undergoing transformational change, in large part driven by the expiration of blockbuster patents and the need industry-wide to regain long-term sustainability. With an increasingly aging first world population, the demand for life science innovation continues to grow. However, succeeding in this new world is increasingly complex, with decreasing productivity, globalization, value-based pricing, contributions from translational research and the promise of precision medicine clearly on the near term horizon.

In our view, foundational to succeeding in this new world will be operational excellence. With non-core competencies externalized, excess capacity eliminated, and more data available than ever before, leading innovators are looking to industry-agnostic best practices, innovation from partners and smarter agile processes to keep ahead of the curve. Data transparency, flexible collaborative infrastructure and the ability to effectively and routinely translate data into usable and actionable information and knowledge are core to operational excellence in the industry today, with much more to follow.

As companies actively move forward, more comprehensive, systematic data and process approaches that span the full life science lifecycle will be needed to help optimize organizational efficiency and effectiveness. To learn more about the innovation path to operational effectiveness in the life sciences, please download the complimentary white paper and infographic from IDC, “Operationalizing Excellence in Life Sciences Through Data Access, Collaboration, and Standardization.”